It's That Time Of Year -

I don't do a lot of baking anymore -

With my type 2 diabetes and hubster Dave's needing to be gluten free, there just isn't a lot that will work for either of us, even if it works for one of us but not the other.

But there is one thing that we always fall back on - 

Crockpot Peanut Clusters.

The recipe is found under the recipes tab at the top of the blog.

It's the one listed under the subtitle *CANDY* beneath the Sweet Dessert Stuff. And it's a keeper.

Yes, there's chocolate - and it is sweet.  But we can always call them protein packed with all of the peanuts in there, right?

And it's definitely gluten free for Dave - so there's that.

I try to make them fairly small so that *ONE* is not a deal-breaker with counting my own carbs for the day.

Besides - the house smells heavenly while these are slowly melting in the crockpot.  And if you use a crockpot liner, there is little to no mess at all.

Just be careful when licking the spoon - the melted chocolate is HOT HOT HOT!

Speaking of chocolate - this little goodie arrived in the mail yesterday, saying simply "Susan from Wisconsin" on the return address spot.

Susan - Thank you for thinking of me!  There is already one less of these chocolates...and I can't wait to include these fabrics in future projects.

The Disco Santas are too cute!

Speaking of Christmas Cheer -

This little memory popped up in my Facebook memories today - reminding me of the time I included the grinch in my neutral string block.  Still makes me smile!

So what did I get up to yesterday?  I finished all of the little cracker blocks!

That is until I found myself with this:

Yeah.  It happens.  *Wrong Corner*

I'm sewing these into fours. The trick is to have all of the big blocks made with a distribution of colors and no repeats of colors in all of the blocks.

We will see how that goes!

Mabel Shenanigans going on -

(Can't resist that belly!)

And the binding on Four Patch Fun is coming along fine!

I'll get a "full out" photo once it's done and then add the details for how I finished mine to the Four Patch Fun tutorial.

Does this mean it's time to start thinking of what our NEXT Leader & Ender will be?

In other non-quilty news: It's supposed to reach the 50s f today! I'm so ready for the BIG THAW!

The snow and ice pack *where the sun don't shine* including the end of the driveway at the road is melting slowly, leaving things as slick as a wet ice cube.  Hubster Dave took the tractor down the drive yesterday to drop some gravel on top of trouble areas.

I'm hoping by tonight we'll be able to bring the vehicles back up top.

You should have seen us last evening trying to get the bags of groceries from the back of the van transferred to the tire-chained-up-shuttle pickup so we could get said groceries to the top of the drive to the house.

Remember that Paul Simon song "Slip Slidin' Away?"  Only this time it came with the reply of "Don't fall and break a hip."

I told him to leave anything that wasn't produce and didn't need refrigeration in the van (like bags of cat food) and we'll deal with it later today.

Son Jeff is on hand today - there is some interior painting we have planned on at the inn while on our winter hiatus.

Baseboards, window trim, some of the bathroom doors and other areas need a touch up.  

That will begin today.

And I'll get to start playing with my ideas for alternate blocks once the rest of the cracker blocks are together, pressed and counted.

And...I'm thinking of a new name for this one.  There is already a quilt pattern out there called cracker crumbs and since I'm adding an alternate block that no longer applies.

How about Crackers & Jam??  I like the sound of it.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Today I feel the need to just pet my fabric, talk to my fabric, create with my fabric, be one with the fabric and BREATHE!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!